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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 245 (Friday, December 20, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 104156-104157]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-30337]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, HHS.

ACTION: Information collection notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the intention of the Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to request that the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) approve the proposed information collection 
project (new): ``Supporting and Evaluating AHRQ's Long COVID Care 
Network.''

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by February 18, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to: Doris Lefkowitz, 
Reports Clearance Officer, AHRQ, by email at 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doris Lefkowitz, AHRQ Reports 
Clearance Officer, (301) 427-1477, or by email at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Proposed Project

Supporting and Evaluating AHRQ's Long COVID Care Network

    Long COVID is a chronic condition in which people continue to 
experience persistent, varying, and potentially disabling impacts after 
the acute COVID-19 illness. Up to one third of people with COVID-19 
experience Long COVID with the numbers higher in females, transgender 
and bisexual people, people without a college degree, and people with 
disability. Some of these groups often face barriers that can worsen 
the impact of Long COVID on their lives and complicate recovery. Some 
of the barriers they face include difficulty with healthcare access, 
communication and internet accessibility, lack of health insurance, 
lower health literacy, greater difficulty using patient portals and 
telemedicine, and greater medical and social vulnerabilities.
    Clinics to provide outpatient Long COVID care have emerged across 
the country to offer coordinated, multidisciplinary care that meets the 
complex, diverse, multi-system, and specialized needs of people with 
Long COVID. There are some Long COVID clinic models that share common 
elements including care coordination and access to multidisciplinary 
care. Though these clinics meet critical needs in the healthcare 
system, they face significant challenges including staffing shortages; 
long patient waitlists; lack of funding or reimbursement for some 
services; lack of clear treatment protocols; limited capacity to 
provide timely, comprehensive, coordinated, and person-centered care; 
and limited clinician knowledge and training in Long COVID management. 
Other barriers these clinics face include the limited number of Long 
COVID clinics and specialists, concentration of clinics in academic 
centers and urban areas, late recognition of Long COVID symptoms by 
clinicians, and delayed referral to Long COVID clinics or appropriate 
specialists.
    In response, AHRQ awarded grants to 12 multidisciplinary Long COVID 
clinics across the country (the ``AHRQ Long COVID Care Network'') with 
the goal to expand access to comprehensive, coordinated, and person-
centered care for people with Long COVID, particularly underserved 
populations that are disproportionately impacted by the effects of Long 
COVID. Specifically, the grants are designed to expand access and care, 
develop and implement new or improved care delivery models, foster best 
practices for Long COVID management, and support the primary care 
community in Long COVID education and management.
    The information and data collected for this study will facilitate 
an evaluation of the outcomes of AHRQ's Long COVID Care Network. The 
evaluation reflects AHRQ's mission to produce evidence to make 
healthcare safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and 
affordable; and to work within the U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is 
understood and used. This study is a new data collection request, and 
the data to be collected are not available elsewhere unless obtained 
through this data collection.
    This project seeks to assess the following:
    (1) How is the AHRQ Long COVID Care Network implementing strategies 
to:
    (a) expand access to comprehensive, coordinated, person-centered 
care,
    (b) engage clinicians in Long COVID education and management, and
    (c) educate patients and communities about Long COVID?
    (2) What was the reach of the AHRQ Long COVID Care Network 
strategies, especially to underserved populations that are 
disproportionately impacted by the effects of Long COVID?
    (3) What were the patterns of:
    (a) service utilization,
    (b) patient outcomes and experiences,
    (c) referral streams, and
    (d) primary care communication and coordination within the AHRQ 
Long COVID Care Network?
    To answer these research questions AHRQ will implement two new data 
collections that require OMB approval. These data collections include:
    (1) Grantee Interviews--Conducted during annual site visits. At 
each site visit, up to five 90-minute interviews will be conducted--for 
a total of 60 interviews across the 12 sites. Each interview will 
include up to two respondents--for a total of 120 respondents across 
the sites. The interview respondents will include grantee principal 
investigators, research and clinical staff at grantee Long COVID 
clinics, and representatives from grantee partner organizations (such 
as primary care practices and community organizations). The primary 
purpose of the interviews is to query about how the grantees developed 
and implemented new or improved care delivery models, implementation 
strategies, and operational workflows; identified barriers and 
facilitators to implementation and mitigation strategies for 
implementation challenges; and considered the potential sustainability 
of their program when AHRQ funding ends.
    (2) Grantee Survey--The survey will be administered to each grantee 
annually. Each grantee's assigned evaluation liaison, or their 
designated representative, will respond to the survey. The primary 
purpose of the survey is to collect data on the services and personnel 
at grantee Long COVID clinics and the costs and resources associated 
with the implementation of the grant.

[[Page 104157]]

    This study is being conducted by AHRQ through its contractor, 2M 
Research Services (2M), pursuant to AHRQ's statutory authority to 
conduct and support research on health care and on systems for the 
delivery of such care, including activities with respect to the 
quality, effectiveness, efficiency, appropriateness and value of health 
care services and with respect to quality measurement and improvement 
[42 U.S.C 299a(a)(1) and (2)].

Method of Collection

    The Grantee Survey will be delivered via a web form to the 
evaluation liaison of each grantee. The evaluation liaison will have 
the option to designate another person to complete sections of or the 
entire survey if needed. The contractor will develop a unique survey 
link for each grantee. The evaluation team will disseminate the 
findings from the grantee interviews and Grantee Survey that answer the 
evaluation questions through evaluation reports developed for AHRQ and 
through other dissemination products (e.g., newsletters, blogs, 
conference presentations and papers, etc.) to a learning community of 
the grantees; an external contributor group consisting of health system 
leaders, payers and policymakers, people with lived experience, 
professional association representatives, and subject matter experts; 
and to the general public.

Estimated Annual Respondent Burden

    Exhibit 1 shows the estimated annualized burden hours for the 
respondents' time to participate in this data collection. The total 
annual burden hours are estimated to be 186 hours.
    The Grantee Interviews and Grantee Survey will be conducted with 
healthcare providers and grantee program staff and partners.
    1. Grantee Interviews--Completed once by 120 respondents. The 
interview takes 1.5 hours to complete.
    2. Grantee Survey--Completed once by 12 respondents. The survey 
takes 30 minutes to complete.
    Exhibit 2 shows the estimated annual cost burden associated with 
the respondents' time to participate in this data collection. The 
annual cost burden is estimated to be $21,390. Although the education 
level of respondents may vary, we anticipate many of them will have a 
medical degree and be employed as a physician or a related occupation. 
The average hourly wage for Physicians as reported by the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics ($115.00) was used.

                                  Exhibit 1--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of
                    Form name                        Number of     responses per     Hours per     Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       response          hours
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Grantee Interviews..............................             120               1           90/60             180
Grantee Survey..................................              12               1           30/60               6
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................             132               1  ..............             186
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                                   Exhibit 2--Estimated Annualized Cost Burden
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                                                                   Total burden   Average hourly    Total cost
                            Form name                                  hours        wage rate *       burden
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Grantee Interviews..............................................             180     \a\ $115.00         $20,700
Grantee Survey..................................................               6      \b\ 115.00             690
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................................             186  ..............          21,390
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* National Compensation Survey: Occupational wages in the United States May 2023, ``U.S. Department of Labor,
  Bureau of Labor Statistics.'' https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm.
\a\ Based on the median wages for Physicians 29-1210.
\b\ Based on the median wages for Physicians 29-1210.

Request for Comments

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501-
3520, comments on AHRQ's information collection are requested with 
regard to any of the following: (a) whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of AHRQ's health 
care research and health care information dissemination functions, 
including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the 
accuracy of AHRQ's estimate of burden (including hours and costs) of 
the proposed collection(s) of information; (c) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information upon 
the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques 
or other forms of information technology.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and included in the Agency's subsequent request for OMB approval of the 
proposed information collection. All comments will become a matter of 
public record.

    Dated: December 16, 2024.
Marquita Cullom,
Associate Director.
[FR Doc. 2024-30337 Filed 12-19-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-P
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